A Greener View by Jeff Rugg

There is a new James Bond movie in theaters and I am not going to review it for you. I am going to give you some trivia that may help you at the office water cooler. There was a real James Bond. He wasn't an expert in terrorists or women. He was an expert on the birds living on Caribbean islands. He was a bird watcher; more than that he was an ornithologist.

He was born in 1900 in Philadelphia and he died there, but in the middle of his 89 years, he toured the islands during his work as curator of birds at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.

His book, "Birds of the West Indies," may not have made it on a best-seller list, but it was the only book of its kind for many years. Ian Fleming was also an author who spent time in the Caribbean islands as a bird watcher. While living in Jamaica, he used "Birds of the West Indies" to help identify birds. While writing "Casino Royale," he wanted an ordinary name for his character and he thought James Bond would do.

In "Die Another Day," the 2002 film starring Pierce Brosnan, Bond is in Havana pretending to be an ornithologist and he is seen reading "Birds of the West Indies." The title of one Bond movie is named after a North American duck, the goldeneye.

Here is one last bonus trivia item for you: Fleming was also the author of the children's novel "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."

Q: We have a problem with woodpeckers making holes in our cedar shakes siding of our house. The woodpeckers seem to favor our red painted cedar shakes for making holes. We do not have "bugs" or termites. (We have had Terminix out.) The woodpeckers have made holes in the past, but they were not very large, and not very numerous.

This year has gotten particularly bad, with perhaps 30 holes (some 1 or 1 1/2 inches in diameter and a couple went all the way in past the backing of the shakes). In the past, we would use something like plastic wood, patch the holes and then paint them the following year or so. But this year is particularly severe — I let the holes go because I didn't know what to do.

Someone suggested putting up metal pie plates and that seemed to help for a week or so. Someone suggested plastic owls — that helped earlier in the spring for a few weeks. I've also used wadded-up tinfoil in the holes as a temporary measure and have hung a few strips of foil, but they usually break away after a while. The woodpeckers are usually the downy woodpeckers, but we have also seen the hairy woodpeckers and there may be redheaded woodpeckers as well.

Do you have any suggestions at all?

A: Woodpeckers drill holes in wood for several reasons. They are looking for food, building a nest or shelter, or sometimes they use the wood as a drum to make noise. I think we can agree that for some reason they have found your house wall to be a good place to build a house of their own.

Instead of fighting them, I think it might be time to help them out. There are woodpecker houses available at your local wild bird supply store, or there are birdhouse plans available so that you can build your own. It might be a good idea to at least cover the front of one with cedar shakes. Some woodpeckers like the house to be partially filled with shavings or sawdust.

Q: I want to keep feeding the red and yellow finches that came to my bird feeders in the summer, but my husband thinks that the seeds cause weeds and thistles to grow in our flowerbeds. What can I use that will not promote weeds and still bring in the finches?

A: There are several things you can do that finches and other seed-eating birds love that will not promote weeds. As you probably know, finches love two kinds of seeds more than any others. They will eat sunflower seeds as a first choice. Because all the other seedeaters like sunflower seeds, too, the finches may not get a chance to come to the feeder. Some sunflower seeds may sprout in the garden. Squirrels will hide groups of five to 10 seeds in little pockets of soil, where they all seem to sprout at the same time.

Sunflower seeds are often sold without the shells. These seeds are just as tasty to the birds, but do not leave a mess under the feeder. They also will not sprout in the garden. They are more expensive and they have a shorter shelf life, but they won't sit on your shelf for long anyway.

A second choice that only finches seem to like is the Nyjer seed. It is imported from India, Pakistan and Africa. It is the only birdseed that is imported into the United States. The USDA requires that the seed be heat treated so that it and any weed seeds coming along for the ride are killed. Because the seeds are dead, you should use them as soon as you can and check your feeders if they are not being used. Dead seeds can become stale or moldy quicker than live seeds.

You won't get many thistles or other common weeds from your birdseed, but you might get millet, milo, oats or some other "good" plant to grow.

The finches provide a service of eating bugs off the plants to feed to their young. Feeding birds all year long provides an enjoyable hobby to you and the birds repay you for your kindness by being an organic insect control service on your husband's flowers.

E-mail questions to Jeff Rugg, Kendall County unit educator, University of

Illinois Extension at jrugg@uiuc.edu. To find out more about Jeff Rugg and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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